Jennifer Weiner's New BFF

Recently, I had the opportunity to interview best-selling novelist Jennifer Weiner about her new book, Best Friends Forever (debuting July 14, 2009). To say I was ecstatic would be an understatement. I have enjoyed reading Weiner's book since the very beginning. I can still remember a cross-country flight that was fun and relaxing because I was reading, In Her Shoes (now a major motion picture), the whole time.





1. The theme of female friendship is the common thread that all your previous books have in common. However, the opening to “Best Friends Forever” plays out like a suspense thriller. How is this book different from your others?


I wanted to weave elements of suspense and a highly compressed time frame in to a more traditional narrative about the way two girls came together and grew apart. There’s also a male main character, so that was new for me.


2. You write so often about long time friendship between women. Is there a friend you have that has been there for you through your lifetime?


Oddly, no. I was a weird, geeky kid who was more comfortable with books than people for many, many years, so I don’t have the kind of friendship described in the book (maybe that’s why I wrote it…wish fulfillment in reverse?)


3. The book “In Her Shoes” is now also a film. Did the movie version meet your expectations?


I tried very hard not to have any expectations about the movie. I told myself that the book was the book, and whether the movie was good, bad, or unwatchable, it wouldn’t change a page of what I’d written. I ended up being absolutely thrilled with the movie – with the screenplay, for starters, and the casting, and the fact that they shot the Philadelphia scenes in Philadelphia, instead of dashing up to Canada with a papier-mache Liberty Bell.


4. You were a novelist first and now you have a blog. Do you have any advice to bloggers who are aspiring novelists?


Don’t blog if it feels like work – you’ll be miserable and the readers will be able to tell. Find a voice that feels natural, whether it’s your own or the voice of one of your characters, and please, please, please, don’t make every single post promotional, or a paean to your own excellence. Even if you think you’re being self-deprecating (“Best-selling Author Spends Afternoon De-Pilling Twinsets!”) too much of it comes across as grating and smug. Particularly if your ever post includes the phrase “best-selling author.”


5. Do you have a ritual that you go through before you start each book?


Heh. I have kids. Who has time for rituals, other than opening a new Word file?


6. Who are your favorite authors?


Susan Isaacs, Stephen King, Peter Straub, Anne Tyler, Nicholas Christopher, Katherine Dunn, Tabitha King,


7. What book or books are you currently reading?


Kate Christensen’s TROUBLE, Julie Metz’s PERFECTION, and Christopher Buckley’s LOSING MUM AND PUP.

About the book, Best Friends Forever- "Addie Downs and Valerie Adler will be best friends forever. That's what Addie believes after Valerie moves across the street when they're both nine years old. But in the wake of betrayal during their teenage years, Val is swept into the popular crowd, while mousy, sullen Addie becomes her schools scapegoat.

Flash-forward fifteen years. Valerie Adler has found a measure of fame and fortune working as the weathergirl at the local TV station. Addie Downs lives alone in her parents’ house in their small hometown of La Prairie, Illinois, caring for a troubled brother and trying to meet Prince Charming on the internet. She has just returned from Bad Date #6, when she opens her door to find her long-gone best friend standing there, with terrified look on her face and blood on the sleeve of her coat. "Something horrible has happened," Val tells Addie, "and you're the only one who can help."

Best Friends Forever is a grand, funny, edge-of-your-seat adventure; a story about betrayal and loyalty, family history and small town secrets. It’s about living through tragedy, finding love where you least expect it, and the ties that keep best friends together forever. "

A big THANK YOU to Jennifer for allowing me to interview her and review her book (Coming Soon! over at Mummy's Product Reviews!)

What Would You Do With One Extra Day?

Today should be the last day of the month, but we are in a leap year. Think of tomorrow as our bonus day! For most of us it will be life as usual (wake up, wipe kiddie snot, work, wipe more snot, sleep, repeat), but think of this- If you could have one extra day to do something, anything- what would you do? Would you spend time with family and friends? Would you rather spend the time cleaning the house or tackling projects around your home?

Yahoo! polled over 2,000 people and found these results-

80% chose doing something fun like hanging out with family/friends, going on some wild excursion or shopping

63% said they might work, do some sort of organizing around the house or clean the garage

40% would do some online clean up, like cleaning their email box, their many online profiles or back up computer files


I spoke with Heather Cabot, the Web Life editor for Yahoo!, who is an expert on the Internet lifestyle. She is also the busy mother of twins and founder of the cool site The Well Mom to see if I could garner some tips on streamlining our lives on and offline. Through her I learned three easy tips to help manage my life on the web.





1. Bacon- Not the Oscar Meyer type either, but the email you opt in for when you subscribe to a newsletter or website. Remember that cute pair of shoes you bought online? You probably subscribed to the stores newsletter without even knowing it. Take ten minutes and unsubscribe to these newsletters as you get them in your inbox. If you are like me, Bacon stresses you out. You feel you have to read it but do not have the time and it clogs your inbox.

2. Social Networking- It can be a lot of work keeping up all those profiles, poking your friends and uploading pictures onto all those different networking sites. Re-evaluate why you are on these sites. Is it the networking for work or fun? Pick a professional one and a fun one and work from there. There is no need to be everywhere at once. Clean up your profile on these two sites and in the long run, you will save time.

3. Be mindful and opt out of things- Be selective of where you spend your time online each day and how much time you are actually online. It is all about balance.

Heather also suggested doing tasks like banking in one place. You can put all your credit cards, bank statements and more on one site these days. Check out safe websites like Wesabe and Mint that can show you where your money is going and how to budget efficiently.

Seeing that Heather is the founder of The Well Mom, a website where women can learn about obtaining and maintaining a healthy balance in life, I asked her for some tips in that area as well. You do not have to be a mother to heed her advice either. Heather talked about the importance in “remembering to be present in all you do, to be really there in the moment. Don’t multi-task and be mindful.” Take time for yourself each day whether it doing something decadent like spa time or simply taking a shower alone or reading a magazine. Whatever it is you need to be a calmer, nicer you, do it! She even has a great checklist on her site called ‘the well mom checklist’. Post it on your fridge ladies! If you are a new mom, please read this list. It is important to ask for help too, she says. Being assertive and pro-active is very important in life, but especially when you have children. You cannot do it alone so do not be afraid to admit that and seek help when needed. Lastly, do not take yourself too seriously. Do not worry about things so much. Easier said than done I know. However, it is advice well taken. I could not agree more.

I really enjoyed talking with Heather. She is down to earth, funny and not at all intimidating like I thought she might be. I got a bit freaked out when I found out she was a former ABC News anchor and correspondent. Like most women though, once we found some common ground you could not shut us up. Thanks Heather, it was a pleasure speaking with you!

For more information about Heather Cabot, you can visit her here and here.

What would you do with one extra day?